Child maintenance and 50:50 custody

Child maintenance and 50:50 custody

My OH and I are in the process of seperating and have agreed 50:50 childcare. He insists this means he isn't liable for child maintenance payments.

We've been married for 15 years and have 1 child. For the vast majority of our marriage he has been the higher earner (probably 40/60 household income split). 6 months ago he quit his job and has become a self-employed contractor on 4 month contracts. He's essentially doing the same work as before but charges more for it. He currently works 2 days a week, but the plan was to up this to 4. On 2 days a week his salary is more than mine but not by much. At 4 days it would be substantially more, but obviously contracting work isn't always reliable.

The plan is to split our savings and assets 50:50 and to each pay half towards nursery costs, about £250 each a month. Our child starts school in 2018 and there will then be smaller childcare costs re after school, holiday clubs etc.

As I say, he insists he isn't liable for cm with joint custody and/or why should he pay it rather than me when our salaries are so close.

My question is as the lower earner (currently and more so historically) am I entitled to cm payments even with 50:50 custody? Also, if his salary increases again, more in line with what it has been for the majority of our marriage, could I be entitled to more?

I want to be reasonable but at the same time don't want to miss out on something I would be entitled to. I'd hate to be in the position in a few years where he has a huge income and just pays a small amount towards after school clubs and can take our child on expensive holidays, and I'm counting the pennies because I was too nice now!

Child maintenance is generally paid to the parent who has the most day-to-day care of a child and the parent who is in receipt of the child's Child Benefit. In the case of equal 50/50 shared care this may change.

Many parents do now choose to sort out their maintenance between themselves as it can be the quickest and easiest way of setting up a maintenance agreement. Although family-based arrangements are not legally binding, they are very flexible and can be easily changed. With this type of agreement you would be able to adapt and change your arrangement quite easily in line with any income changes that your husband may have.

Child Maintenance Options do have an Online Calculator and other supporting tools on their website at https://www.cmoptions.org that might help you both come to an agreement. Once you have decided what you would like to include in your agreement you can record this on their Family-based Arrangement Form. Although it is not a legally binding document it can put your agreement on a more formal basis. More importantly, you can also agree a renewal date for your agreement in case either of you have a change in circumstances.

Some parents do find that following the guidelines of Government's statutory scheme, the Child Maintenance Service, helps them come to a family-based arrangement. In the case of parents having shared care of their child or children, if the paying parent can prove that they carry out an equal amount of day-to-day care as well as having equal shared care then the Child Maintenance Service regards neither parent to be the paying parent. Their child maintenance would be set as nil even if one parent receives child benefits or tax credits as the child’s parent.

Where there is equal day-to-day care, and there is no paying parent means that there can not be a statutory case and the Child Maintenance Service would not be able to process an application as there is no identifiable paying parent.

For more information regarding all your options for a child maintenance arrangement, and for a more personalised service, you may wish to visit the Child Maintenance Options website yourself.

Regards

Sarah

Disclaimer: This information which Child Maintenance Options has provided is not a substitute for independent professional advice and users should obtain professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.